Reconciliation has been forgotten in Papua's Special Autonomy
According to the Governor of Papua, a draft law on governance in Papua (RUU) is now being considered by the Minister of the Interior. The draft law will be formally ratified in August 2014. There have been many complaints by Papuans about this draft because of the lack of transparency, down to the substance, article by article, which only complies with the political interests of the political leaders and will not meet the basic needs of the Papuan people.Very few people know anything about this draft. The most striking thing about it is that as compared to Law 21/20012 on Special Autonomy for...
Global day of action for Papuan political prisoners
On 2 April TAPOL’s call to demonstrate for the release of West Papuan political prisoners was answered around the world. Demonstrators in Edinburgh, Jayapura, Melbourne, Brisbane, the Hague, Auckland and Wellington protested together with London rights groups against the detention of 76 political prisoners, highlighting the silencing of free speech in West Papua.At 12 noon TAPOL, together with Amnesty International UK, Survival International and Free West Papua Campaign gathered outside the Indonesian embassy in London, where demonstrators sat hand cuffed, each wearing a photo of one of the...
Demonstration to call for the release of Papuan political prisoners in Indonesia
On 2 April 2014, TAPOL will hold a demonstration outside the Indonesian embassy in London to protest the ongoing detention of over 70 political prisoners[1] in West Papua and to call for their immediate and unconditional release. Amnesty International UK, Survival International and the Free West Papua Campaign will also be at the demonstration.We will stage a visual protest, where selected demonstrators will ‘stand-in’ for political prisoners. A ‘stand-in’ demonstrator will represent a political prisoner, and will be seated on the floor, handcuffed and mouth taped shut. This will create the...
TAPOL Coordinator vacancy
CoordinatorBased: LondonStatus: 28 Hours a week (4 days) with potential to build to full-time as a result of successful fundraising.Remuneration package: £ 30,000 - -34,056 pro rata (depending on skills and experience)Closing Date: 5.00pm, 28th March 2014Interviews: Week of 4th / 11th AprilApplications: By CV and covering letter explaining how your skills and experience fit the role/person specification. Send an email to barbara.patilla@tapol.org for the job description and further information.We are looking for a highly motivated and resourceful individual with a genuine...
Stop ‘Otsus Plus’ and return to Articles 77 and 78 of Otsus Papua
After reading the contents of the Draft Law (Rancangan Undang-Undang, RUU ) on Papua Special Autonomy, recently known as ‘Otsus Plus,’ in particular the twelfth and thirteenth drafts, as a Senior Advocate Papuan Human Rights Defender, I would like to urge the Governor of Papua, Lukas Enembe, and Governor of West Papua, Abraham Octavianus Atururi, to immediately return to the mandate of Articles 77 and 78, Law No. 21/2001 on Papua Special Autonomy as amended by Law No.35/2008.Mandate of Article 77 No.21/2001: “Proposals for the amendment of this Law may be submitted by the people of...
Urgent Appeal: release Biak prisoners
Papuan political prisoner Yohanes Boseren, currently on trial in Biak, is suffering from mental health problems thought to be related to the heavy beating he suffered when he was arrested. Human rights lawyers are calling for his immediate release and for him to be given the medical treatment he urgently needs.Yohanes Boseren was arrested with five other men – Oktovianus Warnares, Yoseph Arwakon, Markus Sawias, George Syors Simyapen and Jantje Wamaer – on 1 May 2013 during a flag-raising ceremony in Biak to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the administrative transfer of Papua to Indonesia...
'Sulawesi Testifies' to 1965 massacres
A new book sheds further light on the harrowing experiences of the survivors of the 1965 mass murders in Indonesia. Edited by former political prisoner, writer and film-maker, Putu Oka Sukanta, ‘Sulawesi Bersaksi’ (‘Sulawesi Testifies’) is based on interviews with survivors and their families and an accomplice to the murders of four detainees on the island of Sulawesi. Sulawesi Berkasi was sponsored by TAPOL and launched at the Goethe Institute in Jakarta in October 2013.Read the Jakarta Post reviewRead the Jakarta Globe review
Praise for MSG leadership on West Papua
ABC Radio Australiahttp://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/radio/program/asia-pacificPraise for MSG leadership on West PapuaUpdated 16 October 2013, 13:21 AESTOrganisations and politicians from the US, Asia and the Pacific have written to leaders of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, calling for sustained efforts to give Papuans a voice and welcoming MSG leadership on the issue.Praise for MSG leadership on West Papua (Credit: ABC) The MSG, currently under the chairmanship of New Caledonia, is considering a Papuan application to join the Group.Paul Barber, coordinator of the UK-based...
Rights groups call on MSG to allow Papuans to claim their Melanesian identity
98 international and Pacific non-governmental organisations, academics, politicians and individuals have written to the leaders of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), welcoming their leadership on the West Papua issue and adding their wholehearted support for the application of West Papua to join the MSG.The group, including organisations from Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, the Philippines, India and the USA highlighted the threat to the survival of the indigenous Melanesians of West Papua, whose population is rapidly declining, and the ongoing human rights abuses in the disputed...
EU concerned about freedom of expression in Papua
The EU has expressed concern about the excessive use of force by security forces against demonstrators in West Papua and restrictions on access to the territory.In a Question tabled in the European Parliament, Liberal Democrat MEP for North East England, Fiona Hall, cited TAPOL’s report, No political prisoners? The suppression of political protest in West Papua, and asked what action the EU intended to take to curb political arrests and support freedom of speech.The EU’s Foreign Affairs Chief, Catherine Ashton, said in her Answer that concerns had been raised during the 3rd session...
Parliament challenges UK Government over rights abuses in West Papua
Members of the House of Lords held a debate about West Papua on 24 July in which they raised serious concerns about the human rights situation and called on the British government to take a stronger stand.Lord Harries, who initiated the debate, noted the alarming pattern of ongoing political arrests in West Papua, citing evidence collected by TAPOL, and challenged the UK government about its funding of Special Detachment 88, the elite counter-terror squad which has allegedly been used in the arrest, torture and shooting of political activists in the Papua provinces. He questioned whether the...
Indonesia and the 1965 massacres: Where's the justice?
By Carmel BudiardjoOne year ago today, Indonesia’s National Commission on Human Rights, Komnas HAM, published a landmark report on its investigation into the mass killings that took place across Indonesia nearly fifty years ago in 1965/66. The Indonesian army, with the support of civilian mobs, gangsters and para-military groups, unleashed a campaign of terror against alleged members of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) and associated groups, killing up to one million people and imprisoning many more.Komnas HAM found evidence of systematic and widespread crimes against humanity, but none...
Solidarity action for Wamena-Wasior
What is Link Papua?Candle of Papua's Humanity (LINK) is a solidarity action of people who love and care about Papua's humanity, simultaneously in various places in national and international, as a campaign to highlight human rights violations cases in Papua.LinK Papua is organized due to the fact that the Indonesian State continues to ignore the human rights violations in Papua.LinK Papua will concentrate its campaign on the settlement of Wasior-Wamena crimes against the people that the Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has expressed as gross human rights violations and submitted files...
Indonesia: Government must agree programme for UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression
The Indonesian government must respond to a statement made by the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression at the UN Human Rights Council on 3 June asking the government to agree the programme for his official visit, say KontraS, The International Coalition for Human Rights and Peace for Papua, Franciscans International and TAPOL.The government had invited the Special Raporteur to visit Indonesia in January 2013, but the visit was postponed for reasons that have not been officially explained. The government made a commitment to the visit during the UN’s Universal Periodic Review of...
Papuan lawyers to be honoured at Lawyers for Lawyers Award ceremomy
London, 31 May 2013 – Two human rights lawyers from West Papua, Olga Hamadi and Gustaf Kawer, are today being honoured at a ceremony for the Lawyers for Lawyers Award in Amsterdam. An expert jury placed them third on the shortlist for the Award won by Russian human lawyer, Magamed Abubakarov. TAPOL, which nominated the two lawyers, congratulates them on this deserved international recognition of their dedication to legal advocacy on behalf of indigenous Papuans.“The award is evidence of the commitment, courage and professionalism of Olga Hamadi and Gustaf Kawer and their fellow lawyers in...
Komunitas internasional mendesak tindakan untuk membuka ruang kebebasan berekspresi di Papua
Setelah pembunuhan, penangkapan sewenang-wenang dan penggunaan kekuatan berlebihan dalam menghadapi demonstrasi damai di Papua pada 30 April dan 14 Mei, TAPOL dan 10 organisasi internasional mendesak Pelapor Khusus tentang Kebebasan Berekspresi untuk mengambil tindakan. Bersama dengan International Coalition for Papua, Survival International, Franciscans International, West Papua Advocacy Team, East Timor and Indonesia Action Network, West Papua Action Auckland, Australia West Papua Association (Sydney), Peace Movement Aorearoa, Pacific Media Centre and Pacific Scoop, TAPOL telah mengajukan...
Opinion: Why is West Papua closed to foreign journalists?
Earlier this year I had a meeting with a friend who is a foreign journalist in Jakarta. During our conversation which lasted almost an hour, I asked him. ‘When are you planning to visit Papua to get information directly from there?’ My friend said: ‘We are not permitted by the Indonesian government to visit Papua. I have made several requests to visit Papua but the government has turned down all my requests.’ So I asked him: ‘Why are they not allowing you to visit Papua’ to which he replied: ‘The Indonesian government always says that it is not possible to guarantee the safety of foreign...
Indonesia told: end the myth of 'no political prisoners'
(London, 29 April 2013) – A new report by UK-based NGO, TAPOL, forcefully challenges the Indonesian government’s repeated assertion that the country has ‘no political prisoners.’ The report urges President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to open up democratic space in West Papua and order the release of all those jailed for expressing their legitimate opinions and aspirations.The 31-page report, ‘No political prisoners? The suppression of political protest in West Papua,’ documents the cases of 40 detainees who were known to be in prison at the end of March 2013, challenging the government’s claim...
The Act of Killing due for UK summer release
One of the most powerful and provocative films of this year and recent times will go on general release in UK cinemas this summer. The disturbing documentary-drama, The Act of Killing, shows local gangsters in Medan, Sumatra re-enacting in vivid and sometimes surreal and sickening detail the killing of alleged communists during the horrific events that followed former President Suharto’s rise to power in Indonesia in 1965.The Act of Killing, made by Joshua Oppenheimer with Werner Herzog as one of its executive producers, won two prizes at the Berlin International Film...
Alias Ruby Blade: A Story of Love and Revolution
Alias Ruby Blade: A Story of Love and Revolution tells the remarkable love story of human rights activist Kirsty Sword and political prisoner Xanana Gusmão. Once an aspiring documentary filmmaker, Kirsty instead became a revolutionary, working in Jakarta for the Timorese resistance. Using the pseudonym "Ruby Blade," she smuggled video equipment, computers, and audio cassettes to their leader Gusmão, who was serving a life sentence in the notorious Cipinang Prison. As they exchanged letters, video messages, paintings, photographs and even bonsai trees, they fell in love without ever...